Rape victims in England and Wales to be protected from ‘serial liar’ trope in legal shake-up

Rape victims will no longer be depicted as serial liars in courtrooms in England and Wales as part of the biggest shake-up “in a generation”, the Guardian can reveal.New measures will stop the “profound injustice” of victims being questioned, sometimes without warning, about past rapes that they have reported to the police, said David Lammy, the justice secretary.Lammy, who on Tuesday announced jury trials would be scrapped for cases where sentences are likely to be less than three years, said too many rape victims left the criminal justice system feeling like they had been put on trial, with defence barristers using sensitive details of past relationships and abuse to discredit them.He said: “That is a profound injustice, and it has driven far too many women and girls out of the justice system altogether. This must stop, and our new reforms will ensure that survivors are not demonised for the abuse they have suffered

Trans girls banned from joining Girlguiding

Trans girls will no longer be able to join Girlguiding, the organisation has announced, saying it has made the decision after seeking legal advice as a result of the supreme court ruling on gender earlier this year.Girlguiding on Tuesday said: “Trans girls and young women, and others not recorded female at birth, will no longer be able to join Girlguiding as new young members”.A statement from the organisation’s chair of trustees, Denise Wilson, chief executive, Felicity Oswald, and chief guide, Tracy Foster, said: “Following April’s supreme court ruling relating to sex and gender, many organisations across the country have been facing complex decisions about what it means for girls and women and for the wider communities affected.“Following detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members and Girlguiding’s council, the board of trustees for Girlguiding has reached the difficult decision that, going forward, membership of Girlguiding will be restricted to girls and young women, as defined in the Equality Act.”It added that Girlguiding “believed strongly in inclusion” and would continue to support young people and adults in marginalised groups through a new taskforce

BMA chair denies using junior doctors’ strikes to progress political career

The head of the doctors’ union has denied he is pursuing further strike action to progress his own political career after the Labour party overlooked him as a prospective candidate for parliament.The British Medical Association has announced that resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – in England will stage another five-day strike from 7am on 17 December until 7am on 22 December.It will be the 14th strike by doctors since March 2023 and follows a similar five-day action last month, which led to warnings that the NHS may have to cut frontline staff and offer fewer appointments and operations if the strikes continued.The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has called the move a “cynical attempt to wreck Christmas”, while Dr Chris Streather, a regional medical director at NHS England, said it was “highly irresponsible”.Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Dr Tom Dolphin, the chair of the BMA, denied he was using the junior doctors to pursue a political cause

The rise of deepfake pornography in schools: ‘One girl was so horrified she vomited’

‘It worries me that it’s so normalised. He obviously wasn’t hiding it. He didn’t feel this was something he shouldn’t be doing. It was in the open and people saw it. That’s what was quite shocking

Twelve more prisoners in England and Wales released in error in last month

Prisoners continue to be released mistakenly with a further 12 inmates let out of jail in error since November, the UK justice secretary has revealed.David Lammy told BBC Breakfast that despite the latest figures the “trend is downwards” after improvements to the system were put in place.Lammy told the House of Commons in mid-November that there were 91 accidental releases in England and Wales between 1 April and 31 October this year.He said on Tuesday: “Well, I said to parliament a few weeks ago, I released data at that point, and there had been 91 releases in error up to that point, there have been 12 since then, two are currently at large.”Lammy said the two who were still at large were not violent or sexual offenders

UN experts raise concerns over homes rented out by English social landlord

UN experts have said that one of England’s biggest social landlords appears to have systematically failed to ensure the habitability of its rental properties.In a letter to the UK government, they cite the case of a disabled tenant, Sanjay Ramburn, 55, who they say lived with his family of five in an L&Q group property in Forest Gate, east London for several years with no electricity. They experienced four ceiling collapses, as well as severe damp and mould that affected their health.The children developed breathing issues, tinnitus and skin problems. Ramburn, who reported racial harassment and antisocial behaviour at the hands of his upstairs neighbour that he said was not addressed by L&Q, suffered severe mental health issues, the letter says